This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We are in day two of our look at 1st
Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 4 to 11 today. The last few days, the last part
of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5, we're looking at the second coming
of Jesus Christ.

And in these verses the question is, what should I do about it? Right now, these
truths we've looked at, what should I do about these truths? Well, there are
four things in these verses.

One thing you should not do and three things that you should do. First of all,
what you should not do, you should not be surprised. The Bible says in verses 4
and 5 of 1st Thessalonians 5, "But you, brothers, are not in darkness, so that
this day should surprise you like a thief.

You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night
or to the darkness. " You can't tell God when the second coming occurs.

He never told me it was going to happen. You should not be surprised that it
happens. We don't know when it's going to happen, but we shouldn't be surprised
that it will happen.

The Bible tells us that history is not like, sometimes you get the idea from
people that history is like a circle. It's a lot of cycles that goes around and
round and where it stops, nobody knows and we don't really know where we are in
that cycle of life. The Bible says that history is more like a book.

It has a beginning and it has an end and God is going to determine when that end
is and I should not be surprised because God has said there is going to be an
end. In Romans, Romans 13-12 says, "The night is nearly over, the day is almost
here, so let us put aside the deeds of darkness and let us put on the armor of
light. " Why should we not be surprised?

Because we live in the light. Those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, He
has given a light to your life. He's given a light to your understanding and
it's hard to surprise someone when they can see from a long ways away what is
coming and He's told us very clearly it's coming, so we should not be surprised.

What should we do? Paul says, "I should be, you should be alert. " Verses 6 and
7, "So then let us not be like the others who are asleep," that's what you do in
the darkness, "but let us be alert and self-controlled.

For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
" He's given us this picture here of we live in the light, others live at night,
and when you live in the light, you live a different way. Mark 13-33, Jesus
said, "No one knows about that day or hour," talking about when He would come
again, "not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.

Be on guard, be alert. You do not know when that time will come. " The word
alert was used by Jesus.

It's used here by Paul. It's often used to refer to this attitude that you and I
should have when we think about the second coming of Jesus Christ. We should be
alert.

Well, I don't know what kind of road you grew up learning to drive on. I learned
to drive on country roads, two-lane roads, and sometimes on a long stretch of
two-lane road late at night, you might be tired and it's going straight, and you
might be sort of drifting maybe a little bit, getting tired, drifting off to
sleep, and all of a sudden a car comes around the corner and you see the
oncoming lights of another car, and those oncoming lights, they always wake you
up right away. You realize, "I've got to be alert here.

There's other cars on this road. I need to be careful. " What this is saying is
the truth of the oncoming light of the second coming should wake us up to real
life.

It should wake us up to the real needs that are all around us. Hope should wake
us up. Hope, the picture Paul gives here is we stand out as those who are full
of life in a sleepwalking world.

We should look different. I don't know what it takes to make you alert in the
morning. You might have to have a cup of coffee or a shower or a Diet Coke.

This truth that we're talking about here is better than caffeine. It is the
truth that God is going to change everything in our world, and it's saying be
alert and alive to the plan of God. I should be alert.

I should not be surprised. I should be alert. The third thing he talks about
here is I should be self-controlled.

I should be self-controlled. Verse 8 says this, "Since we belong to the day, let
us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope
of salvation as a helmet. " As we walk through this, you see how it's getting
more and more practical, even more and more personal.

Not surprised, alert to is coming, and now self-controlled in my lifestyle.
Self-control. What does that mean?

It's most basic. It's trusting God for the power to say no to the wrong things
and to say yes to the right things. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4, 7, "The end of
all things is near.

Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. " There
again is this idea of self-control that goes along with the second coming of
Christ. Now Peter talks about being self-controlled so that you can pray.

Self-controlled so that you don't waste your life on other things. Also, let me
just take a moment here to talk about this. When it comes to prayer, does prayer
take any self-control for you?

It does for me. There are many people who act like if you're a Christian, you
just sort of automatically pray. It just sort of breathes out of your pores.

It's just an automatic response. Well, I would just say it's not that way for
me. In order for me to take the time to pray, to give the energy to prayer, to
give the thought to prayer, it takes self-control.

It takes discipline. In fact, I'd say let's stop acting like prayer comes easily
and naturally to all who love the Lord. I think it makes a lot of people feel
guilty.

The truth of the matter is it takes discipline and it always will. But the Bible
says, "When I remember the truth of the second coming, that wakes me up to the
realities of this world and gives me the ability to do self-controlled things
like pray. " How does this work?

Paul tells us here. He sort of lines it out for us. How does the truth of the
second coming make self-control work in my life?

Here's how. He says, "Do this by putting on faith and love as a breastplate and
putting on the hope of salvation as a helmet. " Now, this picture is used
several times in the New Testament.

Breastplate and helmet. It's a picture of a Roman soldier who would not dare go
into battle without putting the armor on. You wouldn't want to go into a battle
without putting armor on.

If you know you're going into a battle, you don't wait until after the battle to
put the armor on. No, you put it on at the very beginning. Well, Paul is
reminding us here that daily life is a battle.

Whether you recognize it or not, your daily life is a battle. You battle
temptation every day. There's evil around us every day.

There's the temptation in my own life, my own heart, to not be self-controlled,
to say yes to the wrong things and no to the right things. So how do I counter
that temptation? I recognize I'm going into a battle and I put on faith and love
as a kind of a breastplate and hope as a helmet.

That's the armor. Faith, love, and hope. Those three qualities are the key.

And the key decision I have that you have in these verses is I have the decision
to put them on each day. That's a daily decision. That's even a minute-by-minute
decision sometimes to say I'm putting on faith, hope, and love as the protection
that I need today in order to be self-controlled to do the right thing.

Now as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about how to live the kind of life that
God had given him to live, he also knew that when they were thinking about what
to do about the second coming, they were also struggling with some fears. So
Paul says one other thing to them. You should not worry.

Don't be surprised. I should be alert. I should be self-controlled and I should
not worry.

Verses 9 to 11, he says, "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to
receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether
we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore, encourage one
another and build each other up just as, in fact, you are doing.

" And he says here, "You are appointed to salvation, not to wrath, but to
salvation. " That's an appointment that he's talking about. It's an appointment
if you're a believer that is in your future.

Now some people get caught up on the word appointment here and they think are
some appointed to this and some not appointed. The truth of the Bible is all are
invited to have a relationship with God's Son, Jesus Christ. And all who accept
that invitation have this appointment that's being talked about here.

All you have to do is accept his invitation and you have this appointment at the
end of time, not to suffer wrath or separation from God, but to enjoy a
relationship with God. Jesus says you've already passed out of judgment to life
the moment you make a decision to come to know him. And he is coming again not
to bring judgment, but he's coming to bring salvation.

And Paul says this is true whether we are awake or asleep. Now he's using the
words in a different way here than we just talked about. Here he's talking about
some Christians who have died and some Christians who are still alive.

And he says, "Whether you're a Christian alive or you've already died, the truth
is we're all going to enjoy. We're all looking forward to the fact that he is
bringing salvation. " When it comes to our choice, our attitude in the face of
the truth of the second coming, we have a decision to make in daily life.

You might just picture it this way. Think of the world as one big airline
terminal. And we're all waiting together at this one huge gate.

And there is the news that Jesus is coming again. His plane is coming. Let's
picture it that way.

But it's not yet. You ever been in an airline terminal when the plane is coming,
but it's not yet? And no one knows exactly when it's coming.

People have to wait for the plane to come. Have you noticed in those situations
how human nature and personality tends to come out? In that airline terminal,
there's going to be a lot of different people handling the wait in a lot of
different ways.

There's going to be pushers. There's going to be doubters. There's going to be
sleepers.

There's going to be pushers. You've seen those people in airline terminals. They
march up to the desk as if they could get the plane there earlier by demanding
of the poor person at the desk that the plane get there earlier.

They're not getting anything done, but they feel better about themselves because
they're pushing. You can't push Jesus to come at any time except when the time
the Father has decided. But some people try to push.

And then there are, when it comes to waiting, there are people that I would call
doubters. In an airline terminal waiting for a plane, they just sit down and
defeat. They act like, "Oh, it'll never come.

" And if it does come, there's going to be something wrong with it. They're just
doubting about everything. Maybe I'll have to get another plane because this
plane will never come.

We all know people like that, and people can easily think that way about the
second coming. Even believers can. Even you as a believer can begin to think
that way.

And then there are the sleepers. In an airline terminal, they're over in one
corner sacked out. They think, "Well, if the plane's going to come, I'll wake
up.

" And there's believers that are like that when it comes to the truth of the
second coming. They're asleep. They're not really living a life for Jesus, but
they think, "When Jesus comes, I'll wake up.

It'll be okay then. " But there's another group. In the airline terminal and in
life, I would call them the encouragers.

When it comes to the second coming of Jesus Christ, those are the people that
are waiting for him together, encouraging, telling everyone they see he is on
the way. The plane's on the way. We don't have the arrival time, but it is on
the way.

This airline has never let me down. I guarantee you it's on the way. Don't
worry.

Don't be afraid. Be certain. Be sure.

That's what Paul is talking about here. Encourage each other with these words.
In this great terminal of life, I want to be an encourager.

Let's pray together. And I'd like you to pray with me about being an encourager.
Just say, "Lord, I pray that my enjoyment about what you're doing in my life
right now in this world would never take the place of my anticipation of what
you're going to do in my life someday in all of eternity.

Because I know that what I see right now, as good as it might be, is only a
shadow of what's to come. And I know that what I'm going through right now, as
bad as it might be, cannot overshadow the hope that you've given me, Jesus.
Right now, my relationship with you is just the first taste of being with you
for all of eternity, of praising you and growing in you.

And so, Jesus, I pray that this week the truth of the second coming, your second
coming, would be in my heart. Help it not only to encourage me, but I pray that
you would help me to encourage others because I know this truth. Help me to be a
person who can encourage others in difficult circumstances.

A person who can encourage others when no one else does. Lord, it's easy to be a
doubter. It's easy to be asleep.

I don't want to live that way. I want to be an encourager. So right now, I
remind myself.

I put on faith and love. I put on hope. And I pray that you would use me to
encourage others.

In Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow, we're going to be looking together at verses 12
to 14.